Everybody Needs A Place

It is always nice to go home. Home is the place where one feels safe and has refuge from a troubled world. We give our homes names. In naming our homes, they take on a personality. With this in mind, let’s visit some of our neighbors in their homes.

As you go four miles out Highway 321 from Gatlinburg, near the top of the big hill, on your right, you will see a little round mountain. This mountain is called Round Top. Near the base of this mountain is a place called the Monkey Den. When Monroe Ownby first came to this area to make his home, he looked at all the tangle of grapevines and thick undergrowth and said, “This place seems only fit for a den of monkeys!” The remains of a chimney is all that indicates the homestead of Mr. Ownby.

This Round top is not to be confused with the Round Top in Wears Cove, or the Round Top near the Tennessee, North Carolina border near Clingmans Dome. Round Top seems to be a name we give any round-shaped mountain in the neck of the woods in which we live. We do not stop to consider that our neighbor over the next ridge may have their very own Round Top.

Panther Creek (Panther Den, Panther Branch or Panther Gap) is also a popular name in this area. Many stories have been told about hearing the call of a panther, which is said to sound like a woman screaming in terror. Every family has a story to tell of how a panther stalked a member of their family through the woods. The individual was delivered from the clutches of death– either reaching a safe haven, or by dropping a fish along the path to escape. Every child was warned not go outside alone for fear of being dragged away by a panther. Somewhere in time, a child had been dragged off through the woods by a panther, never to be seen again. It is said the panther was hunted to extermination here in Sevier County. Yet, sightings of panthers still make their rounds in local communities.

In Gatlinburg, as you go up Ski Mountain Road, the creek that comes from this mountain is now called Holly Branch. Old timers know this area as Holly Butt Mountain and Holly Butt Branch. Aunt Lydia Whaley made her home on the slope of this mountain, and being a devout Christian, she disapproved of the name. She preferred the name Holy Branch. Aunt Lydia made baskets, was an herb doctor, and birthed several babies. She could also quote the Bible from cover to cover. She believed that every bit of our mountains was made by the hand of God, therefore the name HOLY Branch.

Located near Mount Le Conte is an area called Huggins Hell. It is said a man by the name of Huggins decided he would find his way through a seemingly impenetrable area overgrown with rhododendron and mountain laurel. He was discouraged from doing so by the men folk who swore he would come face to face with a bear, or be bitten by a poisonous snake and die. To which Mr. Huggins replied, “I’m determined to go through it–or hell itself.” Since the gentleman was never seen again, folks believe he is probable still trudging through the underworld.

Even though your piece of paradise is located on Monkeys Den, Panther Creek, Holly Butt, or Round Top you must agree; there is no place like home in Sevier County, Tennessee!